How To Fix “Windows 10 Start Menu Not Workingâ€.
Late in the evening, I noticed that the Windows Start menu unexpectedly crashes or stops responding. Sometimes a factory reset helped, and sometimes it was due to Microsoft Bing or other 365 services. With that said, here’s a step-by-step guide to fix the “Windows 10 Start Menu Not Working” issue.
How to fix “Windows 10 Start Menu not working”
Step 1: Restart the Windows Explorer task
If the Start menu freezes, restarting the Windows Explorer service can sometimes help. To do this, go to the task manager by pressing “Ctrl + Shift + Esc”. On the Processes tab, find Windows Explorer by pressing the W key several times.
Once you find the Windows Explorer process, right-click it and select Restart.
Step 2: restart your system
If restarting Windows Explorer doesn’t help, try restarting your system. I know this is a very general solution, but it works in most cases. Restarting the Windows system will restart all Windows services and may resolve the current issue.
Step 3: Update your system
If restarting your system did not fix the problem, it is most likely that you have had an upgrade failure. It is known that Microsoft sometimes has several bugs in Windows 10 updates. Most often the problem is solved by updating the system.
To check for updates, launch the Run menu by pressing Win + R. Type “ms-settings: windowsupdate” in the Run menu and press Enter. ms-settings: windowsupdate
On the Windows Update menu, click the Check for Updates button.
If you have an update, Windows 10 will download the update and tell you if a restart is required.
Step 4: rebuild the index
If updating Windows doesn’t fix anything, we can rebuild the Start Menu. The Start menu has a database with file names, applications, and locations. This file may be corrupted. Therefore, rebuilding it may cause the Start menu to work properly.
Go to the Run menu by pressing Win + R and type “control / name Microsoft.IndexingOptions” press Enter. control / name Microsoft.IndexingOptions
In the Indexing Options menu, click the Advanced button.
On the Advanced Options page, click the Repair button in the Troubleshooting section.
After you clicked the “Restore” button, wait for a while. Windows will re-index the files and re-create the index file. After that, you will see the message “Indexing completed”. Then restart the system and check the Start menu.
Step 5: scan System File Checker
If rebuilding the index file did not solve the problem, we can try checking and rebuilding the system files. System File Checker is a tool that checks system files and re-creates missing or damaged ones.
To do this, go to the Run menu and type cmd. Then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open it with administrator rights.
At the command prompt, run the following command. sfc / scannow
When the command completes, the following messages appear. You can find the detailed report at “C: Windows Logs CBS CBS.log”.
After that, restart your Windows 10 system and look at the Start menu.
Step 6: disable Bing
If scanning with System File Checker doesn’t resolve the issue, the issue might be Bing. If you don’t know, Bing search is built into the Start menu. So, if you search for something as common as “the best tacos in town†that is not on your computer, you will still get results in the Start menu from the Bing search engine. Sometimes crashes in Bing and other 365 apps make the Start menu unusable.
We can disable Bing from the Start Menu to make it a little easier and more error-free. However, Microsoft does not provide an easy way or one-click switch to remove Bing Search from the Start Menu. Hence, we will have to make changes to the registry editor. Registry Editor is a system configuration tool that helps to force key system settings and menus to be changed.
To do this, go to the Run menu by pressing Win + R, type regedit and press Enter.
In Registry Editor, navigate to the following URL. Computer HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft Windows
Then right-click Windows and choose New Key. Rename the folder to “Explorer”.
Read: How to Center Taskbar Icons in Windows 10
In the Explorer folder, right-click an empty space and select New DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Rename the key to “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions”. Double click on it and change the value to 1.
Restart your Windows 10 system for the changes to take effect. If, after rebooting, you will be guided by Windows settings over the Internet, just select “Skip now” and everything will be fine.
Step 7: Reset the Start Menu
If the steps above did not work for you, we will need to reset the Windows Start Menu. As with disabling Bing, there is no easy way to reset your Start menu settings. Therefore, we again have to use the help of the registry editor. These changes not only reset the Start menu, but also reset your favorite pinned applications and folders in both Start and File Explorer. Therefore, proceed with caution.
First of all, go to the Run menu by pressing Win + R, type regedit and press Enter.
In Registry Editor, paste the following URL. Computer HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion CloudStore Store Cache
In the Cache folder, delete the “DefaultAccount” folder.
After you have deleted the “DefaultAccount” folder, go to the task manager and restart the Windows Explorer process.
Publish a reboot, you should have a new start menu, very similar to a fresh Windows installation.
Step 8: Reinstall all Windows applications
If resetting the Start menu does not solve the problem, another option is to repair damaged Windows products. We will be using Windows for Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM). DISM is a PowerShell tool designed for Windows administrators to repair corrupted versions of Windows with a hidden version of Windows Repair on your computer. However, DISM can be used by anyone.
To use DISM, go to the Run menu by pressing Win + R and type powershell. Then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run it as administrator.
In the PowerShell window, paste the following command and press Enter.
In the following command, / Online means we are targeting the current version of Windows 10 we are using. “/ Cleanup-image / Restorehealth†basically means we clean up corrupted files and restore them from the recovery image. DISM.exe / Online / Clean-Image / Restore Health
The DISM command will take some time to complete. Once this is done, you will get a result similar to the one shown in the following screenshot.
Then restart Windows and look at the Start menu.
Step 9: Reset or live with your PC
Unfortunately, if none of the above methods worked, we will have to go the hard way – resetting this computer. This will not delete your personal files, but it will delete all installed applications and system settings.
To do this, launch the Run menu by pressing Win + R. Type “ms-settings: recovery” in the Run menu and press Enter. ms-settings: restore
From the Recovery menu, click the Get Started button under Reset this PC.
Then choose Keep My Files from the Reset This PC menu.
The reset will take some time. Sit back, relax, and let Windows do its thing.
Closing words
These were fixes for a broken Start menu in Windows 10. If the issue persists, you can try a third-party launcher or a Start Menu alternative. If you have further problems or questions, let me know in the comments below.
Also Read: Best Windows Registry Hacks in 2020 to Make Windows Better
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